America faces double dip recession

America spends as much as every other country combined on their defense, yet the American people continue to suffer without jobs and hope. With Wall Street receiving record bonuses, what can be done?

It is the time of year when millions of Americans are celebrating the holiday season with their families. However, many of them are doing so without a job and as unemployment continues to rise, it does not look like the New Year will be met with much optimism.

Many Americans fear a double dip recession due to the amount of unemployment coupled with falling housing prices that make for a weak economy. On the flip side, there are many Americans who are doing very well for themselves and in the process are earning record profits and will live in luxury this holiday season.

Wall Street tycoons, who received billions in a taxpayer bailout that pulled them out of bankruptcy, are experiencing historic profits and shelling out ridiculous bonuses. Many in the media were playing up the fear of allowing the banks to fail and creating a mindset that what is good for Wall Street will be good for the rest of America.

But Professor and Economist Michael Hudson disagrees. He says, “This poverty and this crisis is not built into the universe, it doesn’t have to be this way but it’s that way because the press and the media are not telling people that there is another alternative, put main street before Wall Street, it seems simple enough”.

America has continued to bail out banks and invest in the military instead of its own people. In fact, the US government invests more money in the armed forces than all of the countries in the world combined. The country is being dominated by a war machine that is spending at all time highs and continues to go unquestioned.

Michael Hudson adds “All of the public opinion polls say that people would rather spend on social security, pensions and infrastructure than on more defense spending. Yet the politicians follow what the campaign contributors say and both the defense industry and Wall Street say give money to military spending. The job of the politician today is to deliver their constituency to their campaign contributors.”